Being in social media marketing for myself and various companies, one of the things that I have found most helpful to do is reverse engineer what successful social accounts are doing and try to figure out what makes them work so well. Just yesterday I was talking with a mastermind friend and was telling her […]

Just yesterday it happened again, someone said that they wanted to know who my competition was and I froze like a popsicle. Who IS my competition? Today we are going to take a look at ways that we can find out who our actual competition is on Facebook using competitive analysis. Finding Your Competitors On […]

I am both a marketing gal and a small business owner. My time and monetary resources are finite (with time being my most precious commodity) and Facebook, you aren’t there for me on either of these! With that in mind, I am breaking up with you. And it really is not you, it’s just me […]

I am not sure why business people are so hesitant to have a website. Maybe it is the HUGE blank page syndrome or a perceived time commitment. Maybe they are afraid of the technical aspects of it after hearing all the hoopla about WordPress versus a “website-website”. Maybe they have outdated ideas of how much […]

Social media marketing is a combination of tactics, luck and sweat. Gaining followers, friends, views and the like is not an easy task and sometimes you can wonder if all that time is worth it. Today’s big question is should you buy likes, followers and views for your Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts? First off, […]

So today we are talking about social media marketing…that is Facebook, Twitter, YouTube (YES YouTube), Pinterest, Google Plus and all the other social media properties! The thing about social media marketing that is hard is that consistency is the key! You have to do things every day (or at least a couple of times a […]

Social media marketing is all about making connections and getting the OPPORTUNITY to talk to people. Today we are going to talk about Facebook and why you should not talk about politics on social media! First off, let’s look at who this post is for…ie…please don’t send me hate mail if you are NOT trying […]

So this morning one of my Facebook friends asked, “what size should pictures be on Facebook” which got me thinking, while I have a an incredibly affordable ebook out there about how to do photos for facebook ($3 bucks for goodness sake), some of you may not know WHY you need to take a peek […]

Social media marketing is getting out of hand! I say that KNOWING that there is not enough time in the day for small business owners to Pin, Post, Friend, Follow and all the other bits that are required to get anywhere at all with social mediam marketing. So lets break it down two different parts, […]

As an advanced social media marketing whiz, I often say all chirpy, “it is so easy, it will just take you 5 seconds”. Well learning how to post pictures and links to the new Facebook timeline so they look pretty and attract attention REALLY is easy and shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes to comprehend […]

The level of vitriole and hate on Facebook is amazing to me as a human, let alone as a small business marketing expert. The reason for this post is to maybe let some business types know how their comments look from the other end of the Facebook AND to offer some suggestions about how to […]

Facebook commenting, it can be stressful if you don’t know what you are doing. It can also make people mad if you do it wrong. So what should you do? Give up social media marketing altogether? Nope! I thought it would be helpful to tell you EXACTLY what to say or do to stay out […]

Social media marketing, is not having friends or connecting with old acquaintances, but actual marketing that is about brand building, getting new opportunities and when possible, generating leads for your business. Social networks (like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+) are places where people gather to communicate, share pictures of their doggies, quotes, and just random […]

Social media marketing mistakes come in all shapes and sizes but one the major pitfalls is have a (REALLY) bad start! This paired with having your security settings dialed so far back that no one can see anything will really hurt your social media marketing efforts! Social Media Marketing Mistakes – No Photo When you […]

What to say on your Facebook profile for your business? This is a big one for many small business owners. While you do want to jump into the conversation or post witty remarks, you also don’t want to be the schmoe who does a mis-step or ruins your company with a badly worded post. So […]

SO glad Facebook rolled out their new and improved friend lists! Social media marketing is hard enough without fighting the network’s algorithms to see content and have people to interact with! So what does this mean to us as marketers? For me, it means getting to see MUCH more of what is going on with […]

This is UNIVERSALLY the BIGGEST Facebook mistake made by small business owners, entrepreneurs and Realtors. If you are doing social media marketing, you need to check this today! You are sitting at your email and BAM…you find out that people can see your email address on Facebook! The sender makes it seem like that is […]

Social media marketing is a bear! It can feel like you are posting all day and no one is commenting or even listening. Don’t let a lack of comments get you down, you never know who might be out there watching and not talking. The picture that I have on this post was taken out […]

Social media marketing is all the rage in the media! For our small biz owners it has become a must have line item in their advertising budget, but does the hype match the numbers. Here is my take on a really cool infographic from Mashable about the numbers behind social media! So let’s start out […]

Social media marketing is a big part of what we do today to promote our clients and I am always checking out what the “big money” is doing! Are they using Twitter Hashtags or Facebook pages as the call to action? Yesterday I was watching the boob tube and saw the trailer for 30 Minutes […]

Google Plus is setting out to be a Facebook Killer. Thanks to my friend Cyndee Haydon, Clearwater Realtor, I am IN and messing around with the new system! So, what does this new social media platform mean for real small business owners RIGHT NOW? Not so much. Like all social media thingy-ma-bobbies, if you are […]

Social media has become the buzz word for small business marketing. Everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon and get a piece of this new media channel, without realizing that there is a huge amount of time that needs to go into their efforts. At first, when small biz owners decide to use the Facebook, […]

Facebook marketing is generally fun! We have a process by which we make sure that our clients get great exposure and connect with the most people and companies possible. That having been said, there are A LOT of application scams and viruses so tread carefully if you are using Facebook for business! I admit, I […]

Facebook is not made for business, rats! I KNOW, it is to talk with your peeps, share photos of your puppies and generally schmooze. BUT many of us have found it is a great lead generating source and there are bits that can be great for business if done correctly. Here are my most recent […]

Small business marketing magic is a lie! There is no get rich quick scheme that can grow you a sustainable, ongoing marketing plan. Having a good marketing plan that feeds into your Small Business Lead Generating Sales Funnel, is hard work and not something that you should expect overnight. Facebook Business Page Lies Yesterday I […]

In our social media marketing world, the option of using Facebook as your main site is coming up more and more frequently! I cannot tell you how opposed I am about this being a viable option. I KNOW, Facebook is one huge party and there is nothing that cannot be done with it! If you […]

Social media marketing like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube is a tricky beast. It can be time consuming and if done wrong, super spammy. That having been said, social media can produce REAL results for your small business! We do social media marketing for small business owners and oftentimes during the sales process they ask […]

Facebook is at it again, yesterday they rolled out their new business pages so here is an update on what the changes mean and how we are going to implement them for our clients. Facebook as a way of changing things around on us without asking if we want changes (imagine that!) Overall I have […]

If you are using Facebook for your small business marketing efforts, how you set up your privacy setting could have a HUGE negative impact on your success. If you are playing around on Facebook with a little business thrown in or are a personal user, this post is not for you. I am talking ONLY […]

Facebook app developers have something new out everyday and since we do social media marketing services, we get the heads up early! Today’s latest and greatest is BranchOut, which seems to be an app that makes Facebook more like LinkedIn. If you have spent any time over here, you know that I am not a […]

The new Facebook profile seems to have a much better application for marketing than the old one did! Some vital demographic data is front and center now – YAY! When FB launched the new Facebook Profile yesterday, I was initially horrified (like everyone else) at the changes. I had pictures up there, sigh, I hate […]

Looking to outsource your social media marketing services to an affordable and reputable Marketing company with over 15 years of online experience? We have worked with hundreds of small business owners like you to make the most out of your website, social media and SEO marketing dollars. Some of the marketing areas that we cover […]

It is easy to get taken by social media snake oil. We all want to find the “easy button” for getting our Facebook and Twitter done and out the door, but sadly I have found that most things I or my clients try tends to be little more than pouring money down the drain. So […]

Finding “stuff” to post on social media like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can seem like an overwhelming task. Here is a GREAT way to find things that you can use to add interesting items to your social media properties. We have lots of clients and I can tell you that finding interesting items to post […]

Facebook Groups, Friend Lists and Business Pages are hot questions for small business owners in my inbox right now. Since Facebook launched Groups Version 2.0 last week my peeps have all wanted to know what the difference are between the three. Here is a screen capture of your groups, you find them on the left […]

Optimizing your social media uses many of the same principles that optimizing a website does. You need to know what keywords your are trying to rank for and then set up your social media accounts to optimize for those terms. The goal for optimizing any of your web properties is to let the power of […]

Using Facebook for Non-Profit Fundraising is a great way to get your message out to numerous people quickly. The added bonus is that Facebook, like all social media is FREE! So WHY is Facebook so good for helping to raise money for non profit organizations? Mostly it is because the viral nature of Facebook encourages […]

Facebook classified ads are as simple and hard as the rest of Facebook! We choose to use the Facebook Marketplace for our services clients to post their listings. The photo is showing Joy Phelan, Lakewood CO Bookkeeper, two ads for her services. The marketplace was pretty easy to set up. Simply go to the search […]

Facebook Business Pages have come a long way and having a custom page is starting to be as important as having a website or blog! Custom business page design can be hard or easy depending on your level of technical ability. Here are a couple of different ways to make a custom page from easy […]

Burning your list means that you oversaturate your message to a group of people. I am here to tell you that a list of people who have said you can contact them on a regular basis is a beautiful thing to waste. Years ago we all had a rolodex of people we could call or […]

Social media marketing is a moving target. Just when you get something done, they change the rules. This time Facebook has changed the size of the area you have to use on your custom business pages! This update is not news to those of us who follow this kind of thing. Facebook has been talking […]

Facebook marketing becomes MUCH easier for small business owners when you have lists of your friends segregated. These are all practical working suggestions for what to do on Facebook! Super basic Facebook Friend Management Overview Once you have added your friends to Facebook, getting them sorted out can be an overwhelming task. I can tell […]

Local marketing on sites like Facebook, Yelp and Gowalla took a huge leap forward today. More practical applications for small business owners seem to be on the horizon! Local marketing is really coming into its own with sites like Yelp.com, Foursquare.com and Gowalla.com for local small businesses. I have been telling everyone I meet with […]

Social media marketing may be free BUT it takes up all your time. To combat that I see people doing things that are spammy and which do not compliment their business model like this… Vince is probably a great guy and he is billing himself as a “Sincere Online Marketer” BUT he is not considering […]

Social Media Marketing and Social Networking ARE different and how you approach them are going to determine your success or failure. When I started talking about the new marketing tools like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn a while ago, everyone was calling it Social Networking. Just recently I have noticed a shift to Social Media and […]

Here are my Top 10 reasons to use social media specifically for your small business marketing efforts. Small business owners and entrepreneurs are uniquely positioned to take advantage of social media when it is just becoming mainstream. Why should I use social media like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter for my small business is ABSOLUTELY the […]

Social media marketing and especially Facebook is taking over Google for driving traffic to my website. More traffic is great but social media marketing success is less predictable. So is Facebook beating Google on my site. I attended a workshop a couple of YEARS ago where the speaker said that Facebook would take over Google […]

Facebook marketing is all about keeping in touch with people in a very friendly kind of way. Getting and giving referrals becomes SO much easier because of the low technology barrier and connections that you have within Facebook itself. There are three kind of business owners I find out there in regards to Facebook Marketing: […]

Having a small business marketing focus is one of my very favorite things to talk about! When you pick a marketing topic to feature each month, you can laser target your traffic and help to sell one of your products effectively. This is social media marketing month over here at Marketing Artfully! So what does […]

RESCHEDULED FOR APRIL!!! Small Business Owners, Social Networking is Not A Gimmick, Hype Or A Fad … It’s Just A Smarter Way Of Generating REAL LEADS! Boulder and Denver Small Business Owners come out and learn social networking like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter the easy way! You will leave class with all of your systems […]

It seems like everyday someone invites me to join a new social network. From Facebook to Twitter to Google and about a gagillion more. So, is it worth your time to fill out all those profiles and does filling them out obligate you to actually USE the site? This is a purely subjective answer based […]

Marketing Artfully was recently featured in New Business Denver for social networking (more about that coming later!) I have been getting some great questions about Facebook from the readers and when I answer them I will share with you, my loyal readers. The first question is one I get A LOT, can you keep your […]

I thought you might like to see how the progression of facebook looks! Think about it, as a small business owner, how do you ignore this HUGE media outlet. If you would like to be my friend, I am at www.facebook.com/tara.jacobsen [HTML1]